At one point Wat turned to me and said,'I have some travelers cheques and I will not be able to cash them until the weekend has finished. Would it be possible for you to loan me 300 Baht?' seeing as I had his phone number, I thought 'why not' so I gave him the money.
At around 6pm, we pulled into the train station at Chiang Mai. Wat recommended a place called the green hotel close to the outskirts of the city and we shared a songtheuw (basically, a red public bus) to get to the hostel. He moved on while I decided to grab some sleep.The hotel iself was nice and as i was not a dorm, i was abl to get some sleep pretty quickly.
I took a few photos of the journey from Bangkok all the way to Chiang Mai so here are some of them
The 'Express' Train.
Destination : Chiang Mai.
Arrival Time: Depending on how long the engine works before it blows up.
Mood: Be Patient or you will go crazy!
They do see a lot of rain here
(which is good for the rice)
Fields seem to be a lot smaller over here but a lot flatter until you reach the moutainous areas
Nice shadow of the cloud projected onto the water in the field
weird looking tree amongst the corn
I always thought Ireland was such a green country but it seems like most countries have their green spots.
Well, green with a bit of mud!
scenic view of the countryside
Cool reflections
The tractor looks a bit like a jeepney with the roof ripped off
Interesting styles
Looks like I have taken a train through Galway
eemmmmm, the part of Galway that grows rice
People working in the fields
Nice field-sky contrast here
Whoever said Ireland was a green country has never visited Asia as all these countries are just as green as Ireland!
mmmmmmmmmmm rice as far as the picture can show
I think this is corn
Tropical forest ...or at least, it looks like one!
Stream breaking through the forest
My room mate at the green house hotel.
I like to call him Gicky the gecko
A list of pics would not be the same without some food
The lake seperating the inner and outer one way road system within Chiang Mai
Remains of a gate
Ah, I have finally found home!
The Elephants are on guard here in Chiang Mai!
One of the many 'Wats' in Chiang Mai
Them dragons look fairly scary
This is a grand Wat
One of the gates leading from the inside of Chiang Mai to the outside
EM, I don't think this is a holy symbol
well, maybe to Walt Disney and kids
The 5 headed serpant surrounded by vicious looking creatures like the giraffe
This is a genuinely disgusting statue
I don't need to add any more comment to it.
Look, It has been at least 8 pictures since the last food reference.
Here is what the locals call 'a sausage'
There must be a Chinatown in every town.
Wonder if there is such a thing as a european town in China?
Odd colourful looking toys
Anyway, to get back to the 'wat' story, Wat said to meet up at some location the following Monday.This was cool. Monday arrived and I sent him a text. He responded and I was about to meet up with him when I actually bumped into him 45 minutes before our arranged time. He asked me where I wanted to go . I asked him for the money but then he said that his visa travelers cheques bounced so he would not have the money for another few days and do I want a motorbike ride anywhere. I said I just wanted to go for a walk and I would go for food later, then he seemed a bit peed off that I would not accept his ride. He said he'd meet up with me later in the week. I kind of got the feeling that my decision not to accept that ride was the first decent decision as regards talking to him as his demeanour changed quite a bit at that point. I never saw him again and to be honest, i was kind of glad I didn't.
Anyway, enough of my trusting everybody! What did I get up to while I was in Chiang Mai? well, I decided to join the endomondo site and see how the jogging 'skills' were coming along. I went for a jog and came within 20 msec's of becoming minced meat by some tuktuk drivr coming in the opposite direction. He must have been going at some speed as I had to jump out of the way and as it was dark, I missed the path and fell on my knee. But , I traipsed on to the finish! I might use endomondo just to keep account of the places where I jog from now on.
I changed hostels from the green hotel to the chiang mai packers hotel and that was class. I stayed in a dorm for the duration of the stay there which was cool as for the first night , i had the room to myself and for the rest of the stay I shared the room with Pablo from Guatemala . Pablo had been volunteering at Mea Sot planning and construction some houses for the locals there and Chiang Mai was the place to be after a hard month slogging through dirt!
The guy who owns the hostel had actually been in the army and he told us some varioous army stories varying from the time that he fought off Cambodians who were illegally entering Thailand to his trips to Afghanistan and Iraq. You know the wway you can tell when somebody is telling tall stories and someoe is being serious.Well, this guy seemed to be 'on the level'. I would not mess with him for all the tuktuks in Thailand. Fascinating guy though and really helpful when it came to everything from arranging tours to avoiding the local scams.The rooms in his hostel were cool and the people that stayed there were sound also. We met with 2 Guys who had travelled up from Phuket not by bus but by Hitchhiking! Nikita is a Norwegian girl who is learning Muay Thai over here while she completes her online studies. (Wow, things have moved on since my time!) and Reiner is a south African dude who is over here to practise the art of kicking ass (Muay Thai) also!
In fact Nikita has a blog which is a really cool read. If you want to read it, here is a link to it...
http://finallywarmnomad.wordpress.com/2012/07/30/hitchhiking-thailand_part-1/
Oh, I almost forgot, I was sick to death of hearing people shout 'massage' to me so much that I ended up taking a two day foot massage course at the 'Khunchmnan Family' house (1/3 Soi 8 Moon Muang RoadA. Muang Chiang Mai) It was .....an ......interesting experiance. Initially we (there were 2 of us taking the course but the girl was taking the body massage one) Initially, we had to pray to some dude called Dr Shivago (like the film!) and then I was thought the basic moves. To be honest, I would need a fair bt of practise to keep the moves in my head but it was so relaxing, I came very close to falling asleep during the first day . The girl actually did fall asleep while her teacher was showing her what to do! It's good fun though , just as long as your feet do not stink before attending one of those places ! As an aside, I have mentioned before that I had a foot massage in Hat Yai. At one point dring the massage, the girl administiring the massage elbowed me in the groin and then proceeded to apply pressure while taking a phone call with her friend... I asked the guy in the class if this was a normal part of a foot massage (you can get a back massage while having a foot massage so this might not sound silly) The instructor just laughed at me and said that was an original move....note to self: original moves can hurt!
Max - The Instructor
The instuments to a foot massage
Alcohol to clean the feet with (and possibly drink later on if the bars are shut)
Some cotton buds to wipe away some dirt
some moistuising stuff to wipe into the feet
The stick is used to pinpoint certain areas of the feet whic correspond to different parts of the body
During my ime in Chiang Mai , I had to go on the visa run as I had spent the allocated 30 days in Thailand. So, it required me to hop over the border into Myannmar for 1 hour before walking back again and picking up thhe extra 15 days for the visa. This was a real pain in the ass although I did get talking to a couple of interesting lads on the bus. One of the guys had just been living in China for 3 years and seemed to be interested in everything from existential paintings to the next big boom. Another guy joined in on the conversation and this guy claimed to be an entrepreneur who had made his money from various business delings over the last 20 years. He seemed to know a fair bit about everything from Moores law to the state of Chinese companies when they 'cook' the books. He was wrriting a book about a fictional characters journey though 16th century China. (Yep, I was thinking that there wasn't too much of a markt for this but then again , there are quite a few chinese people who might buy the book if it was translated into Mandarin) Anyway, he said he wasn't too worried about making money from the book as he had already made his money and this was more of a pet project for him.One that had lasted 3 years.
Getting back to the visa run! So, you had to line up and get your stamp ,then enter a room and get thumb printed and then the people on duty ask you if you want to go shopping in Myannmar for the hour before the bus picks you up again.FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, IF YOU EVER ATTEMPT THIS TRIP, SAY 'NO' as you will only be accosted by guys on the myanmar side asking if youi want a tuktuk ride even though they know that you have hardly any time in the county to see many sites. I spent the hour chatting to a scottish girl (who had just jumped off the same bus as me) an trying my best to avoid being annoyed but it really was annoying. There is nothing on the Myanmar side anyway.
Guys queuing up for the big TukTuk question
This is the only view of Myanmar that I took as I was only allowed 1 hour in the country.
I am sure it's a special country but to stay in the county, you have to travel by plane from Bangkok
The entrance to customs reveals an electronic barometer.
29.3 degrees in the heat is still quite hot!
We stopped at a town halfway between Chiang Mai and ghe Myanmar border..
Nice view of the hills from here.
I feel like I am back in Indonesia (Sumatra) again
Mountains ,sky and grass....
the perfect combination for a pic!
There's plenty of eating in them there hills!
This house reminded me of 'Little House on the Prairie'
Back to the Galway themed picture section again
As you can probably guess, rice is a pretty important crop around these parts!
I like to call this 'Sun breaking through the clouds shining on the scattering of trees below'
At the end of the hour, we had to queue up to collect our passports again.The whole process of getting the visa cost 500 Baht. To be honest, it wasn't too bad but it took the whole day to get to the border and back again.
Oh yeah, during the time in Chiang Mai, I met up with a fellow couch surfer called Rose. Rose is from the Philippines and studies linguistics out here.Actually, her boyfriend is from Cork but I did not hold that against her (I joke!) She was telling me the area where she is from (Davao) is a cool place to visit. I have heard a fair bit about this area from tourists and Filipinos and it sounds like it is safe enough to visit and really worthwhile....damn, I wish they gave more than 21 days for a philippino passport. I'd love to head back there and explore some more of thise 7,000 islands!
Anyway, Rose showed Pablo and his friends and I around the sites a couple of times. Some of Pablos friends were interesting people (actually, they were all interesting people!) but a couple of thee guys stood out. so much so that I have forgotten the guys name (I think it was something like winston) but his girlfriends name is Chiara from Italy. They have been staying here for a while picking up some massage techniques. He is into acupuncture.One of the evening that we were hanging out together, he decided to check some acupuncture points on our wrists.That was 'interesting' as he said he could tell if we were anxious or not just by thefeeling of the wrist after prodding us with one of his (clean) needles.
He was saying... a few years ago,he travelledto the amazon and lived with a remote tribe for 3 months. Sounds quite different to a suit and tie job.Later on that evening he told us that he used to be a semi pro footballer and nearly made it through to the big time at the same time as Ian Wright (whom he had played against from his non league footie days) But he decided to go on a different path at one point and became a councellor (where, at one point he would help out prisoners. He was a councellor to one of the guys that he went to school with) Chiara and himself were going to try and attempt the 21 day retreat at one of the Wats (Temples) in this area.These retreats involve talking to nobody and eating once or maybe twice a day. Sounds tough to me! If you are interested, you can choose to stay in a 'Wat' for 4 days or for 21 days.I wouln't mid trying that myself at some stage but not now (you have to wear an all white robe all the time and I am not sure white is my colour :-) )
So, what else did I do apart from the massage course. Well, I tended to fall asleep at the drop of a hat! Any time a football match happened to be on the tv/computer, I would tend to drop off. I must remember that in the future when I have trouble sleeping!
I went for a few jogs around the old part of the city. This was pretty cool as you got to see some of the locals playing 'Takraw'. The sport looks like a mixture of volleyball and football (you use your feet instead of your hands to keep the ball off the ground.) Here is a pic I took of a game in action.
I still don't know how they manage to kick the ball and in the same movement stay on their feet.
Jogging in this part of the world wasn't too bad as long as you didn't jog around 3pm. Your face might turn a weird shade of red (as mine did) if you attempt it!
I still try out the local food as much as I can. I had a Thai green curry (Look, I know that's hardly THAT exotic but in thailand they ask you if you want it western style or Thai style. Western style means VERY,very,very,very,VERY mild. Thai style means.....prepare to feel the burn!) I had a glass of water with it. I am not sure if it was tap water but I tried it anyway an I was ok afterwards (although Thai style green curries are very spicy!)
Be careful with the strength of the chillis as they can burn!
I noticed that chickens were being bred at a certain place.This isn't such a big deal although the sign for the place seemed a bit odd .(well, it seemed a bit odd to me so I am sure it was fine!)
Won't somebody think of the chickens?
Oh Wait, they have!
Normally, I tend to go for random walks and take photos. Here are just two examples of me getting lost during a walk and taking photos (in part because they might help me find where the hostel is!)
I am looking for a road.
This might some time
Dusk over Chiang Mai
Here are just some more pics of Wats and their various artifacts located beside the Wats.
Can be found within the walls of Chiang Mai
The laughing statue in the background freaks me out!
A nice serene statue
This was the first time that I saw the symbol of a horse used
There were gates surrounding each of the 4 sides of Chiang Mai.The traffic went clockwise around the inside of the gates and anti clockwise around the outside of the gates....I think....or am I confused ....again... All I know is.....if you get lost on a scooter, it takes anage to get back to you original place due to the traffic going in one direction only!
Some information about one of the gates
Food update:
I ate some all you can eat place within Chiang Mai and I have to say that I let myself down badly. My ambition is to one day get thrown out of one of these places but I performed poorly at this place. Basically , they had all the meats lined out for you and you boil/cook them yourself. It was a good deal but I am afraid my appetite isn't as big as it used to be (although, it's not too bad!)
MMMMmmm, you can't beat the 'all you can eat' buffet.
Literally, It's impossible!
Well, you have to eat some veg!
I have to have a balanced meal you know
mostly balanced towards meat though
Frying the meat, you pick it up raw and you get the frying utensils from the shop.
nice!!!!!
If you took some pork /chicken balls, you would throw them in here and boil them.
I am getting hungry just looking at these pictures!
Oh yeah, the white water rafting! We all decided to have a go at this as the other lads (Pablo, Nikita and Reiner) like some action and I just go along with everybody! Twas great craic though! Tje scenery on the way to the location was stunning. It reminded me of Sumatra. Here are just a few shots of the area.
The journey leading to the rapids was paved with greenery
I think the elephant 'nose' the way.
Look, I am doing my nest with the pictures I have!
Stunning view of the area overlooking the rapids
Warning sign,(ignored at the time, d'oh!)
some luch vegetation
This is where all the magic happened.
for magic,read: scary descent downstream!
The guys were taking a bamboo boat past the finshing point.
It looked like they were levitating on the water!
Nikita and Pablo
Reiner
The end of the course from the bridge
We had to avoid one of the rapids as it was too dangerous.So we drover around that rapid and reentered at another point. We were able to jump out of the boat and actually float through a rapid also (making sure not to scratch our legs). This was initially frightening but then yoou kind of realise that if you tense up, you do yourself a bit more damage so I followed the flow and drifted downstream.
http://www.facebook.com/#!/photo.php?fbid=10151023062042234&set=t.100001476944065&type=3&theater
It was a pity the rafting wasn't a couple of hours longer as it was really enjoyable and the lads were good craic!
Oh yeah, The Muai Thai boxing! I was going to go to this up in Bangkok but it seemed a bit pricey (which to be honest is no excuse but ill use it anyway!) So, Eventually, i had a look at a Muai Thai (traditional Thai kickboxing) in Chiang Mai.
Flyer containing the main event.
Wow, not ust fights but Super Big fights!
I must go there!
As for the fights themselves, there seemed to be a lot of playacting to the Thai music before the bouts began and the person who tended to dane more to the music tended to be the loser in every bout! To be honest, at the end of the night, the fights seemed to peter out and the atmosphere dropped to a murmur. I think it is better to be part of the action as apposed to looking at the fights. In saying that I did enoy the cameo fight between a dwarf ,a blind man and a randomer...
The dwarf is using his his quick movement\motor skills to full effect!
The 2 lads are are trying to outdo each other by praying to somebody.
This happens before the fight. I think the guy in the red trunks prayed a bit more.
Food in hostel alert:
Have you ever wondered what a chinese breakfast (from a Thai perspective) looks like?
well, fear no more because here is a picture of one! It consists of congee with some orange juice and some tea. To be honest, I never thought that I would ever like eating rice at breakfast but it seems to be the way forward in most of Asia and it actually tastes nice to me so it's a thumbs up!
0015
I rented out a scooter for a couple of days. On one of the days, I went to the Sirikit botanical gardens with Reiner. It was as relaxing a place as you could imagine when you are surrounded by lots of flowers. The pictures speak for themselves.
Entering the park
Nice colour coordination here
Grass cut in a wavy pattern
I am starting to feellike David Attenbourough here
well, minus the smart comments
Banana leaf with the beginning of more bananas
(see the purple bit)
It feels like we are walking in the jungle
well, one that contains a footpath like all good jungles should!
That's one big leaf!
That's one dehydrated person
Mountain partily covered by the raincloud
I saw a bunch o' Daffodils
Sammy the snake decided to pay us a visit
Look at the top section of his belly.
I think he has just eaten his first meal of the day.
Better not scare him from his after meal stroll as he hasn't broken it down yet!
Better leave him alone before he gets angry!
Follow the magic steps to find the promised land!
There is a nice drop behind the bannister.
Notice, I am fully aware where the bannisters are located!
The pods are HUGE
I call this '2 flowers in a pot'
Do NOT fall into the water!
Flowers, Flowers everywhere.
I had to take a pic of the fan as the heat in the greenhouses was somethiing else.
Indoor waterfall
These photos always end up with me feeding fish!
Either the waterfall is small or I am now officially a giant
I will go with the former.
Zingiberaceae
Looks fake....but it's all real!
This place is like a desert
Cactus with different looking cactus in the background
There is no need for gimmics in this place
but I guess it helps!
trees arranged in a strata formation
I need someone to 'fan' me with that leaf!
Nice entrance to the greenhouse with the 2 lions welcoming you inside
View from the top of the mountains
I'd better be careful when taking the corners here as it looks like it's about to rain
Water feature #4,000,001
mae sa noi waterfall
Nice view of Chiang Mai from a distance
You can see some rice fields in the distance here
Some of the statues look weird
Looks like a running track in the middle of the forest!
Picture of 'Nature'
Looks like I am taking a photo from the top of the world!
Reiner with his bike
I forget the size of the engine, let's say it was a 500cc manual bike.
That bike can pick up speed very quickly (or should I say Reiner can pick up the speed)!
I can touch the clouds.....nearly
You would never guess that it was raining when this photo was taken
Let's say this was a 125cc bike...
man, I look huge beside the bike or the bike looks tiny beside me!
It's just me with the cow for company in this photo!
Oh Yeah, I almost forgot he visit to Huai Thai Tong. This is a sort of national park close to Chiang Mai. Pablo and myself rented out a couple of scooters and met up with Chiara at he location. Unfortunately, Pablo had a flat tire which needed a bitof mending but this coulld wait until the end of the day. In the meantime, there was plenty of relaxing to be attempted! There were lots of places like chalets but without the actual chalet, just a kind of roof ,where you coud sit and look out over the river and chill. It was a cool peaceful,place and by the end of the day, we saw a man fix the backof a motorcycle. Result!
One of those boats that pretends it's a swan but without the violance that comes with being a swan
We thought we were ordering snake but I think this was called a snakefish.
Tasted nice though
A really chilled out place
Huts located across the water from the eateries
I am going to look for that pot of gold now
don't eat all the snakefish!
Pablo and Chiara enjoying the view
Nighttime at Huai Thai Tong
Pablo was getting his bike fixed.
I did my bit by posing for a picture with my cool helmet (can you see the picture of the flower on it? class!!)
Don't worry Pablo, The guy knows what he is doing.... I guess!
Pablo and Chiara are concerned.
nice pic of the guys office/house in the background
Of course, there are a few night market pics. The night market In Chiang Mai on a sunday is a special place. Cool musicians and a nice atmosphere.
The group line up behind each other and play for what seems like forever.
good though!
Quails eggs , these are really cheap over here
You can't beat Samosas!
One of these flavours was beetroot.
eugh!
This girl was really good at the xylophone (or something that looked like a xylaphone)
Interesting style of dance seen here
Having a drink with the lads after going to the market
I got the chance to experiance the thrill of being on a bike with 2 more people! That was one journey that I won't forget. I would imagine it's difficult enough to drive with 2 people but with 3 people it takes a bit of skill. I'd be grateful if you could pat your friend on the back for me Rose !
I went to the cinema here. I like the way that everybody has to stand to the nationa anthem before the film starts.(Well, the Thai anthem isn't bad either.)
I took a motorbike ride on my own and kind of travelled in random directions taking various photos.These can be seen on my facebook page .
http://www.facebook.com/#!/media/set/?set=a.405501482842413.93859.100001476944065&type=3
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